US-led coalition touts ISIS deaths as monitors slam civilian casualties

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced the deaths of three of the group’s leaders Friday even as monitors accused the coalition of killing dozens more civilians.

Airstrikes in April and May killed three foreign-born ISIS leaders, the coalition said in a statement Friday.

“The elimination of three senior foreign fighters represents a significant degradation of the ISIS planning and operational capability,” the statement said.

An April 27 airstrike near Mayadin, Syria, killed Mustafa Gunes. The coalition described Gunes as a Syria-based ISIS external operations facilitator from Turkey who recruited for the group in central Turkey and helped get financial support for attacks against the West.

{mosads}A May 11 airstrike also near Mayadin killed Abu Asim al-Jazaeri, described as an ISIS external operations planner and a Syria-based French-Algerian ISIS fighter. He was involved in training ISIS youths, called the Cubs of the Caliphate, “a high priority training program sanctioned by ISIS leadership,” the coalition said.

Finally, a May 18 operation near al-Qaim, Iraq, killed Abu-Khattab al-Rawi. The coalition, which didn’t identify his country of origin, described him as a senior ISIS military official who provided direct support to ISIS leadership and was responsible for coordinating drone operations and procurement in Al Anbar Province in Iraq.

“The deaths of these men eliminates senior foreign fighters, who had extensive experience and training, and degrades ISIS’s ability to plan and conduct attacks on civilian targets in Iraq and Syria, as well throughout the region and in the West,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that coalition airstrikes in eastern Syria the night before killed 35 civilians, and the United Nations human rights chief issued a blistering statement saying it is “far from clear” that coalition air forces are following international law.

“Unfortunately, there is little doubt that ISIL continues constantly to kill and endanger civilians, committing war crimes without any compunction whatsoever,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement, using an alternate acronym for ISIS.

“However, it is also far from clear that the fundamental principles of international law are being properly adhered to by all the various air forces engaged in the fight against ISIL.”

He cited May 14 airstrikes in the Al-Akershi village in northern Syria that reportedly killed 23 farm workers, including 17 women.

May 15 airstrikes in residential areas of the ISIS-controlled city of Albo Kamal in eastern Syria reportedly killed 59 civilians, including 16 children and 12 women, he added. The next day ISIS fighters reportedly cut the throats of eight men at the sites of the airstrikes after accusing them of providing coordinates for the strikes.

“The same civilians who are suffering indiscriminate shelling and summary executions by ISIL are also falling victim to the escalating airstrikes, particularly in the northeastern governorates of Al-Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor,” Zeid said. “Unfortunately, scant attention is being paid by the outside world to the appalling predicament of the civilians trapped in these areas.”